Feds Drop Bid to Limit Sales of Morning-After Pill

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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will allow minors to obtain one form of the emergency contraception known as the “morning-after pill,” dropping its appeal of a judge’s order requiring it to be sold over the counter.

(File photo)

U.S. District Judge Edward Korman had ruled in April that the government must allow over-the-counter sales, and a federal appeals court rejected the administration’s challenge to that ruling last week. The administration had been criticized by some women’s rights groups for trying to stop contraception sales to underage females.

In a Monday letter to Korman, Justice Department attorneys said the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services had agreed to make the single-pill version of the drug available “without age or point-of-sale restrictions.”

“It is the government’s understanding that this course of action fully complies with the Court’s judgment in this action,” the letter states. “Once the Court confirms that the government’s understanding is correct, the government intends to file with the Circuit Court notice that it is voluntarily withdrawing its appeal in this matter.”